


Building Castles Out Of Dirt

by littlelouishiccups



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Enjoy!, M/M, but there is no drug use in this fic, harry wears a lot of floral, louis thinks it's cute, louis used to deal drugs, tbh i think that's it, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 05:06:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3755530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelouishiccups/pseuds/littlelouishiccups
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Well, we've gotta figure out a way to dig it up," Louis announced with certainty. Maybe if he acted more confident than he actually was, he would be able to motivate both Liam and himself.</i>
</p>
<p>  <i>"We?" Liam asked, raising one eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.</i></p>
<p>  <i>"Yeah, fucking we!" Louis almost shouted, refraining from smacking him again. "You're the one who got me in this mess. You're gonna help me get the hell out of it, got it?"</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In which Louis has just been let out of prison, only to find that his best friend has buried the money he owes someone at a construction site. Now there's a school built on top of it. Louis lands a job as a substitute teacher at the school, where he meets Harry and accidentally falls in love.</p>
<p>With Liam as Louis' best friend, Zayn as an English teacher, and Niall as Louis' probation officer.</p>
<p>Inspired by the film "Fack Ju Göthe", alternatively titled "Suck Me Shakespeer"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building Castles Out Of Dirt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [samemistakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samemistakes/gifts).



> Special thanks to my amazing beta, you know who you are :)

Freedom didn’t taste nearly as sweet as Louis thought it would. Maybe that was because his life had reached a standstill while he was in prison and he didn’t know where to go now that he had it back. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had a lot of people to answer to now that he was out of the can. But it was probably just because his best friend was the dumbest person on the planet.

“How could you be so fucking stupid?!” Louis smacked Liam on the back of the head.

Liam sputtered. “This isn’t my fault!” He rubbed at the back of his head with an offended expression.

Louis looked at him incredulously. “What kind of idiot buries something they want to dig back up at some point... at a _construction site_!? Jesus Christ, Liam! Do you even _have_ a brain?”

“I thought they were just laying pipes!” Liam exclaimed. Louis forced himself to take several long, deep breaths. It probably wasn’t the best idea to beat his friend within an inch of his life when he’d only been out of jail for three hours. He had a meeting with his probation officer the following day. Showing up with bruised knuckles probably wouldn’t look good.

 Louis ran a hand over his face and looked up at the new school. He sighed, cursing it’s existence. What the hell was a nice new school doing on this end of town anyway? It would be gratified and vandalized to death by the end of the year. Hell, the name of a local gang was already spray painted across one of the brick walls near the entrance.

“Liam,” He said slowly, rubbing his temples and trying to calm himself down. “My life is on the line here. Are you absolutely certain this is where you buried the dough?”

Liam threw him an apologetic look. “Yeah, Lou. It was definitely here. Right over there.” He pointed to the part of the school that was connected to a large gymnasium. 

Louis threw his head back and groaned. Okay then. Okay. He simply had to find a way to fix this. He owed some people some money. And it was only a matter of time before they found out Louis had been let out of the slammer early. It was only a matter of time before he was in serious trouble. He needed to fix this and he needed to fix this now, without getting himself back into trouble.

"Well, we've gotta figure out a way to dig it up," Louis announced with certainty. Maybe if he acted more confident than he actually was, he would be able to motivate both Liam and himself.

"We?" Liam asked, raising one eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, fucking we!" Louis almost shouted, refraining from smacking him again. "You're the one who got me in this mess. You're gonna help me get the hell out of it, got it?"

Liam sighed but eventually he agreed. “Yeah, alright.”

"Good," Louis said shortly. This wasn't up for discussion. "Now let's check this place out."

They circled the building and Louis checked out all of the entrances and looked in through the windows while he formulated a plan. There had to be a basement or boiler room somewhere near where Liam said he buried the money. It was near the cafeteria.  If he just had access to it he'd be able to dig his way to the cash.

A janitor would have access to every room in the school and Louis needed a job to meet his probation requirements anyway. He'd have to make sure the school was in need of new janitorial staff. There were ways. Louis could be very persuasive when he put his mind to it.

"Alright," Louis said after they'd circled the entire building. Twice. He told Liam about his plan as they made their way back to his car.

"Solid," Liam nodded his approval. "You stayin' with me or you got somewhere else?"

Louis wrinkled his nose. Liam lived in the tiny flat above a cheap, run down strip club that he bartended for on the weekends. A strip club for aggressively straight men. And Louis really didn't have the patience for naked women or homophobic losers. However, he didn't have anywhere better to go.

"With you," He told Liam with a sigh. "If that's cool."

Liam grinned and patted Louis on the back. "Course it is, mate. You know I love having you around. You're always welcome at my place."

They got into Liam's beaten up car and drove to his flat in silence. Louis started running over all the things he needed to do in his head. He had an appointment with his probation officer first thing in the morning, and then he needed to get down to business at the school. He also needed to stay under the radar for as long as possible. He really wanted to pay a visit to his family, call his mum, but he didn't want to put them in any more danger than they were in already, so he figured it was best to leave them alone for the time being.

Louis and Liam went out for a bite to eat before heading home. Louis let out a pornographic moan as he bit into his cheeseburger, and then several more as he scarfed down some chips.

"Piss off," He rolled his eyes when Liam gave him an affronted look. "You try living off prison garbage for a year."

Fuck, Louis never wanted to go back. He went to juvie several times as a teenager, just always seemed to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong things. Prison was different, more intense, and also incredibly boring. Louis didn’t fancy finding himself back there. Ever. He landed himself there in the first place because he owed Grimshaw and his gang money. Money Louis didn’t have. So he’d stupidly robbed a bank, and then even more stupidly asked Liam to bury what money he got away with before he was caught.

One of Grimshaw’s men visited Louis while he was in jail, letting him know with a handful of threats that he wasn’t off the hook, and Grimmy expected his money as soon as Louis was free. Luckily, Louis was pretty sure he had some time. He’d had a two year sentence, but was let out after fourteen months on good behavior. Nobody was expecting him yet. He’d be able to lay low for the time being.

When they got to Liam's an hour later, Louis was given a blanket and a throw pillow and he made a place for himself on the lumpy, cigarette burned couch.

"Thanks again, bro," He said before Liam closed the door to his bedroom. He lay down and punched his pillow a few times, trying to make himself more comfortable, before setting an alarm on his phone for ass o'clock in the morning for the meeting with his P.O. He had trouble going to sleep, listening to the drip drop of Liam's kitchen's faucet and the muted noises of night life going on outside. The music from the club was a constant humming vibration underneath him. The thought crossed his mind that this wasn't much better than jail. At least there everyone had to shut the fuck up at a certain time and there were no outside noises.

Louis tossed and turned in frustration for hours. Sleep didn't hit him until somewhere between three and four a.m.

\---

Louis’ probation officer was a small guy with bleached blonde hair and an obnoxiously loud Irish accent. He wasn’t intimidating at all and Louis had to try really hard to take him seriously. But despite his overly cheery demeanor and loud voice, Louis liked P.O. Horan. He was a laid-back, good natured guy, and he treated Louis with respect and kindness, didn’t regard him as just another useless charity case with an inevitable never ending criminal record.

His shoebox sized office was a chaotic mess, which for some reason just made Louis like him more, and he grumbled to himself as he searched for Louis' file.

"Aha! Here we go!" He announced loudly, pulling Louis' file out of his briefcase. "Okay let's see what we've got here Mr. Tomlinson. Louis. I can call you Louis?"

Louis shrugged. "Louis, Tommo, whatever."

"Legend," Mr. Horan said, settling back down into his chair. "Feel free to call me Niall."

Louis nodded. Yeah, he really liked P.O. Horan. "Okay,"

Niall's eyes skimmed over Louis' file before he turned his attention back to him. He leaned back in his chair with his hands crossed behind his head.

"Let's just get right to it, yeah?" He said. "You're coming out of this with a pretty sweet deal. Let out ten months early on good behavior because of overcrowding and that. Basically all you gotta do for me is three hours of community service every week, stay off the booze and the blow. I don't wanna see you zonked, got it? You start using and this is gonna go a lot harder for you."

Louis nodded in understanding. He expected as much, and he’d never really had a problem with drugs anyway. Well, with using them that is.

"No curfew hours, but I'm gonna make you wear that pretty bracelet on your ankle for a month so we can keep an eye on you," Niall continued, pointing in the direction of Louis’ feet. "You prove to me after that length of time that you're trustworthy, you can take it off. You get to meet with me every Thursday, so you have that to look forward to. Drug test every week so no screwing around. Speaking of," He pulled out a clear plastic cup and a screw on lid. "Bathroom's down the hall. Stuart, our intern, he's gotta watch you piss. Sorry about that. I don't make the rules."

Louis took the cup from him and made his way to the bathroom, where Stuart the intern -a ginger, freckle faced kid- was sitting outside, playing on his phone.

"You have to watch me pee," Louis told him. Stuart made a sympathetic face and nodded, joining Louis in the bathroom. He stood in the corner while Louis took care of business and then took the cup from him when he was done.

He walked back into Niall's office and sat down.

"Practically painless, right?" Niall asked and Louis shrugged.

“Now, last order of business. You need to get a job,” Niall told him. “Can you get one on your own or do you need me to hook you up with one? If you’re choosing for yourself it’ll have to be run by me first, of course.”

“I was gonna apply for the janitorial staff at the new school over by the train station.” Louis replied.

"Sounds good to me," Niall nodded and scribbled in Louis' file. "Bring documentation that you're hired with you next week. If you don't have it, I get to assign you a job, yeah?"

Reasonable, Louis figured. It all seemed very reasonable and doable.

"Where you staying?" Niall asked, along with several other questions, before he slid a paper over for Louis to sign. The whole meeting only lasted a bit longer than half an hour, and then Louis was sent on his way.

He took the tube to the school, which was much more lively during the morning hours. He was unlucky enough to enter the school at what looked like the tail end of passing period. There were several students rushing in different directions to class.

"Hey," Louis caught the attention of an annoyed looking girl with brown curly hair. "Where's the main office?"

She pointed him in the right direction, not even giving him the chance to thank her before rolling her eyes for no reason and heading the opposite way. Louis hated teenagers. His sisters were teenagers. He couldn't wait for them to grow out of it.

He walked into the office, where things were surprisingly more hectic than they were in the halls. The phone was ringing and the secretary was typing quickly on her computer, already taking a call on another line. Another teacher was scolding two boys, one who had a cut lip and the other who had the beginnings of a black eye. Sometimes Louis really missed school.

A skinny woman with bleached blonde hair walked out of the door to the principal's office and looked at him curiously. 

"Hi," He said, deciding to just go for it and cut right to the chase. "I'm here to apply for the position of-"

"Oh, thank God!" She exclaimed, grabbing his hand and yanking him back towards the principal's door. "I think we're all about to go mad."

"Um," Louis said in confusion. 

"Jamie," She said, opening the principal's door. "This man is applying for the supply teacher position."

_What?_ "Uh," Louis said, attempting to backtrack. "That's not-" 

"Thank fuck," The principal said, throwing his hands in the air, then he started mumbling to himself. "Things are absolutely mental. Can’t hold down a supply teacher to save my life and Mrs. Jones goes and tries to off herself. The most inconvenient timing, I swear to God. She has a talent for this."

Louis tried again. "I think there was a misun-"

The principal cut him off _again_. "You're hired."

"What?!" Louis sputtered.

"Please," The principal begged, standing up and walking over to Louis. "We're desperate. One of our teacher's attempted suicide yesterday and we don't have anyone to take over her class.”

_Attempted suicide?_ What the hell kind of place was this?

Louis considered this for a moment. He was in no way qualified to be a supply teacher. There was no way they’d let him stay on as a supply teacher after he filled out the proper paperwork and such. But they wanted him to start immediately, and a supply teacher would have access to the entire building. Louis could find a key and copy it before he was found out and fired.

“Please,” The principal said again.

Fuck it.

“Alright,” Louis agreed. 

“Fantastic,” The principal gestured to one of the chairs facing his desk and walked back around to sit in his chair as Louis sat down as well.

“James Corden,” The principal shook his hand. He was a stocky, chubby guy with a kind face and a warm handshake. 

“Louis Tomlinson,” Louis introduced himself.

“Great to meet you Louis,” James said. “Great to meet you. You’re saving my life, you are.” 

Louis smiled at him pleasantly, and almost an hour later he was leaving Corden’s office with a stack of papers to fill out and return with tomorrow on his first day of work. What a joke.

The bell rang for passing period as Louis was making his way towards the exit, and he was bombarded by a sea of students running out of their classrooms in every which direction. He paused in the middle of the hallway while the students passed him, some sidestepping him easily, others not sparing him a second glance after ramming their shoulders into his. Teenagers were awful. What was Louis getting himself into?

He turned to his right and saw two devastatingly attractive men around his age exiting a classroom. One of them was shorter, with olive-toned skin and black hair. He had to be the most striking person Louis had ever seen, with dark chocolate eyes rimmed with long thick eyelashes. His ears were pierced and he had a nice dusting of scruff on his face, and he was wearing a leather jacket, already making him officially cooler than any of the teachers Louis ever had in school. If he was a teacher that is, but Louis didn't know what else the guy would be doing walking out of a high school classroom in the middle of the day. Maybe he was trying to dig up some money too. Ha.

The man was listening intently to his companion, who was pretty and much softer. He was all legs, with floppy curly brown hair, smooth creamy skin and bright eyes. He wore a flowy white button down shirt with enough buttons left open that Louis wondered if there was even a fucking dress code in this place, and black pants with a pair of tan suede boots. He looked over as he and the other teacher were about to pass Louis, and spotting Louis, paused mid sentence.

"Can we help you find something?" He asked Louis pleasantly, his voice deep and rough.

Louis blinked. "Oh, no." He said. "I was just waiting for the chaos to pass. I'm the new supply teacher."

The guy's eyes brightened and he held out his hand. "So nice to meet you!" He said. "We've been going a bit mad."

Louis snorted and shook Soft and Pretty’s hand. "So I've been told."

"We work here too," Soft and Pretty said, pointing to the other teacher.

"My condolences," Louis said, sneering at an incredibly loud and obnoxious group of teenagers as they walked by.

The darker haired teacher laughed. "You keep it real, man," He said, then held out his hand for Louis to shake as well. "I'm Zayn, and this is Harry. When do you start?"

"Tomorrow," Louis clasped his hands behind his back and nodded.

"Cool," Zayn said. "Well I gotta run, have a lunch meeting with Cordo, but I'll see you around."

He waved and continued down the hall, leaving Louis with Harry, who Louis caught checking him out. Well, alright.

"Are you busy?" Harry asked, his eyes snapping to Louis’ face. "It's lunch, so I have some time if you'd like me to show you around a bit before you're thrown to the dogs tomorrow."

Louis perked up at that. Knowing the outline of the school would be great. He agreed and Harry smiled, gesturing for Louis to follow him.

"What's your name by the way?" He asked. "You never said."

"Right sorry, I'm Louis."

"Louis," Harry smiled, like he thoroughly enjoyed saying the name. "Nice to meet you. I'm Harry, like Zayn said. Mr. Styles to the students, and he's Mr. Malik. I teach History and Government and Zayn teaches English."

Harry continued his chatter as he gave Louis a tour. Louis only half listened to what he was saying, paying more attention to the building, and especially close attention to the few janitor and maintenance closets they passed.

“And down there is the gymnasium and the boiler room,” Harry said, gesturing to the end of the hall they were walking down. “And that’s pretty much it. You’re subbing for Mrs. Jones, so you’ll mostly be in the same wing as Zayn and me. Where we were at the start.”

“Cool,” Louis said. “Thanks mate.”

“No problem” Harry beamed at him. He was pretty adorable, and if they’d run into each other at a club or something, he’d be exactly Louis’ type. But Louis needed to stay focused, wouldn’t let pretty teachers with dimpled smiles distract him. Well. At least he’d try his best.

 

*****

 

Louis woke up in a bad mood the next morning. He'd tossed and turned all night again, listening to Liam's fucking sink leak and the music from the club below. Then, right as he'd started to drift off, Liam stumbled in with some girl and they'd proceeded to have loud sex that Liam's closed door hardly muffled. Louis was tired and frustrated, he really needed to get laid, and dealing with bratty teenagers all day was the last thing he wanted to do. But alas.

He put the kettle on while he got ready for his first day as a supply teacher. He'd picked up some decent clothes the afternoon before and he dressed himself in some black jeans and a gray sweater. He thought about styling his hair in a quiff rather than letting it spring up in every which way like it tended to do, but then he decided he didn't care about this job that much. He'd gotten hired wearing jeans and a t-shirt, his hair a mess. Clearly Principal Corden's standards weren't that high.

He poured his tea into one of Liam's portable thermoses, grabbed the paperwork he'd filled out the night before, and hurried out of the flat, Liam still fast asleep in his room.

Louis was late. And the secretary from the day before was pacing when he stepped into the office.

"You're late," She said.

Louis shrugged. "Sorry,"

"C'mon," she said, already making her way out the door. "I'll go introduce you to your homeroom class."

She handed him a file as they walked down the hallway. "Mrs. Jones' lesson plans are in there. As well as the class log for each of your classes."

Louis opened the file and looked through the pictures as she talked.

"Make sure you take attendance at the start of every class period. We are trying to enforce a stricter attendance policy and Cordo is really adamant about turning in your attendance records at the end of the day." Louis forced himself not to snort in amusement. He'd had the worst attendance record in school. "Everyone has lunch at half noon. Mr. Styles said he showed you around, but if you can't find the teachers' lounge or the staff bathrooms, there is a map in there was well. Oh, and my name's Lou by the way. Mrs. Teasdale to the kids."

"Ace," Louis said, closing the file when Lou stopped in front of a classroom.

She pushed open the door and they were greeted by a rambunctious group of teens, none of them in their seats. A group of boys stood next to the window with cigarettes, blowing the smoke out of the cracked window. Two girls were sitting on the teacher's desk, painting their nails, and the rest of the class were chatting amongst themselves, sitting on the floor or on the tops of their desks, listening to music and just being loud in general.

"Excuse me!" Lou said, and less than half of the students gave her their bored attention. She sighed and Louis took pity on her.

"Oi!" He shouted, slamming the door behind them. The remaining heads snapped in their direction.

"Thanks," Lou murmured, then raise her voice to address the room at large. "Everyone, this is Mr. Tomlinson. He'll be taking over for Mrs. Jones until we hire someone else to take her spot permanently."

Louis nodded at the class, who blinked at him and then turned back to their friends.

Lou gave Louis a sympathetic look. "Good luck." And then she turned and left him to the dogs.

"Shoo," Louis said to the girls sitting on his desk, motioning for them to go away. They rolled their eyes at him, but went to their respective seats nonetheless, taking the nail polish with them.

"Okay," Louis said, slamming the folder Lou had given him onto the desk. The class couldn't have cared less, paying no attention to his presence. And Louis didn't particularly care to have their respect, but he was going to try and take roll anyway. Since that seemed to be the most important thing to Principal Corden.

"Hey!" He tried again. Nothing.

"OI SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He shouted. And that got their attention.

"Everyone take a seat," He continued, gesturing to the desks. "And listen up, I've gotta take roll."

He went down the list, marking the students who didn't speak up when their names were called. Most of the class was there.

"Alright," He said, sitting down and resting his legs, ankles crossed, on the desk. "Carry on."

There was a pause, the entire room stopped breathing, confused looks on their faces, then one of the girls in the class spoke up.

"What's the catch?"

Louis shrugged. "No catch. I don't really feel like teaching you monsters today. So... carry on. Just don't get too loud."

Another pause, like the kids thought this might be a test. Louis sighed, rolled his eyes and opened the folder Lou had given him, searching for that map of the school. Once he found it, he settled back into his chair, lifted his legs up onto the desk, and started to familiarize himself with the building. He counted twelve more seconds before the class finally figured out he didn't plan on trying to teach them and did as he asked, as they carried on amongst themselves.

The rest of the morning was more of the same. Louis had to shout to get each class' attention, he took roll, then let them do as they pleased for the rest of the class period. By the time the bell rang for lunch, he was starving, and he went to grab something from one of the vending machines before he planned on retreating back to the empty classroom to eat in peace.

He was debating which type of crisps to buy when someone saddled up beside him. He turned to see Harry, wearing a floral button up shirt today with his black pants and boots, his hair pulled back into a ponytail. He looked like a quirky idiot. Louis shouldn't have found it as endearing and attractive as he did.

"Hi Louis," Harry said, smiling at him happily. "Are you going to join us in the teachers' lounge for lunch?"

"Uh..." Louis said, preparing to make up some excuse about going over Mrs. Jones' lesson plans by himself, but Harry didn't let him.

"Come on," He said. "You'll sit with me and Zayn. There are better vending machines in there anyway. And I'll let you share my lunch."

He looked at Louis expectantly and Louis shrugged before following his ambling body to the teachers lounge. The lounge was decently sized, with two vending machines and a refrigerator lined up against one wall, and circular tables scattered throughout the room. There was a couch on another wall, and a television set up in one of the corners. It was currently showing security camera footage, flashing from hallway to hallway, to the cafeteria and the courtyard.

Zayn was sitting at one of the tables, eating a sandwich and reading something on his iPad. Harry made to join him, so Louis did as well. Looking around the room, it made sense that Harry and Zayn seemed to be friends. They were by far the youngest teachers in the room, everyone else probably in their forties or fifties, while Harry and Zayn looked to be mid-twenties, like Louis. He figured that was also why they were taking him under their wing. Age solidarity or something. Louis briefly wondered what Harry and Zayn's reputation was amongst the students. Young, good looking teachers. He imagined they were well liked.

"I asked Louis to join us," Harry said when Zayn looked up at them.

"Hey," Zayn nodded at Louis. Louis nodded back.

"My lunch is in the fridge," Harry said. "I brought more than I'll eat Louis, if you wanna share with me."

"It's fine," Louis said. "I can just have some crisps. Not too hungry anyway." Which was a lie, but Louis felt uncomfortable taking food from Harry. He didn't want to take advantage of his kindness. Something felt wrong about it. Harry seemed like a good guy, and Louis hated making friends with nice guys, because he himself wasn't a nice guy and he knew he'd inevitably fuck it up in the end. Liam was a nice guy and befriending Liam was clearly the worst decision of Louis' life, since he was now working at a school as a fucking supply teacher to fix his stupid mistake.

"Should take him up on that offer, mate," Zayn said, locking his iPad and pushing it to the side. "Harry's a great cook."

Louis turned to Harry. "You really don't have to," He protested.

Harry waved him off and then went to the fridge to retrieve whatever it was he'd brought for lunch.

"How're you holding up?" Zayn asked Louis. "I know the kids can be a handful sometimes."

"They've been fine. Really respectful." Louis said, and considering they'd been doing exactly as he'd asked, it wasn't a lie.

Zayn raised an incredulous eyebrow, but didn't question Louis any further. Harry returned with two paper plates and a tupperware container full of steaming pasta that he'd just warmed up in the microwave. He spooned some onto a plate for Louis, and then started talking to Zayn about the project he currently had his students doing. Louis zoned out for the most part, humming in agreement when they looked to him for reaction, and ate Harry's pasta, which was creamy and incredible.

When he wasn't zoned out, he found himself looking at the pair of teachers at the table with interest. They were pretty different, Harry fairly animated and Zayn much more stoic, but they had an easy friendship, and it was clear they were very comfortable with each other. Louis briefly wondered if there was something more than friendship going on there. If they both swung that way, they had to have slept together at least once, and if that wasn't an image for the wank bank, Louis didn't know what was.

Before he knew it, the bell was ringing, signaling the end of lunch, and he begrudgingly made his way back to the classroom, where the afternoon carried on much like the morning had. As did the rest of the week.

\---

Louis met with Niall for his weekly appointment on Thursday afternoon, having to run out of the school and onto the tube to make it in time. He arrived a few minutes late but Niall was understanding. They chatted for a bit about Louis' week and Louis gave him proof of employment at the school, leaving out that he was teaching, rather than part of the custodial staff. Niall looked everything over before handing Louis the cup for his drug test. It was all fairly routine.

"Right," Niall said when Louis returned from the loo. "So community service. Three hours a week like I told you last time."

He placed a small stack of paper in front of Louis. "These are the places you can do your hours at." He put another piece of paper on top. "And this is what I need you to get signed as proof you did the hours."

Louis nodded and took the stack from him.

"I find most people really enjoy the soup kitchen," Niall told him. "If you want to try that out first. I know they can always use more volunteers on Friday nights, so it shouldn't be very difficult for you to set up."

Louis liked that idea. He'd actually eaten at the soup kitchen before, when he was at his worst place financially. It was a nice place, and was run by nice people.

"I think that's it for today," Niall said, clasping his hands together. "You're doing good Tommo. I kept an eye on you this week, and you were never somewhere you weren't supposed to be. Keep that up and you'll be out of that bracelet before you know it."

Louis smiled, not mentioning that the reason he was doing good was because he was being careful. He needed to keep a low profile for now.

"Alright," Niall said. "You're free to go. See you same time next week."

 

The next evening, Louis found himself getting ready to go to the soup kitchen. Like Niall said, they were in dire need of help on a Friday night, and it only took a short phone call to arrange his hours for the evening.

"You sure you don't want to hang out at the club tonight?" Liam asked as Louis got ready to leave.

Louis sneered. Yeah, he was pretty sure he didn't want to go hang out at the strip club. When had he _ever_ wanted to hang out at the club?

"There are gay guys there sometimes," Liam said. "You might be able to pull. And I'll serve you free drinks.” Louis rolled his eyes. “C'mon Lou, you haven't done anything since you got out of the can. It's like you're not even the same person."

"I'm on _probation_ , Liam," Louis groaned. "And I really just wanna get these hours over with. I might catch up with you later on, yeah?"

Liam sighed, but nodded, wishing Louis luck as he left the flat.

Louis walked to the soup kitchen since it was only a few blocks from their flat, and he kept his hood up and his face down, not wanting anyone to recognize him in this neighborhood. He rubbed his hands together to keep them warm, and let out a sigh of relief when he reached the kitchen and was greeted by warmth when he walked inside.

He was also greeted by the sight of Harry.

Harry, who was wearing blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt, paired with a frilly floral apron, as he walked around carrying a large casserole dish and served everyone with a huge smile on his face.

Louis darted to the back, where there was a volunteer sign in, before Harry could see him with his community service forms.

"Hi," Louis said to the volunteer coordinator. "Are you Caroline?"

"I am!" She said with a smile. "And you’re Louis?"

Louis nodded. "Yes."

"Glad to have you, love," Caroline wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You can leave your community service papers on my desk. Don't want any mess to get on them. I'll fill them out and you can pick them up on your way out."

Louis set his papers down on her desk and then let her lead him to the back, where there was a small group of people frantically preparing more casseroles.

"We'll put you on assembling duty," Caroline said, walking him over to a station. "We're doing lasagna tonight. You've got everything here," she gestured to the pots and pans. "So if you'll just put everything together. Noodles, sauce, cheese, repeat."

"Easy enough," Louis agreed and Caroline left him to it.

He set to work, and wondered how long it would be until Harry came back to the kitchen and spotted him. Turned out, it took the amount of time it took for Louis to make two casseroles. He was turning from the oven and setting to start on a third when he heard his name being called in that deep, cheery voice.

"Louis!"

Louis looked up and pretended to be shocked at the sight of Harry.

"Harry!" he exclaimed, widening his eyes in fake surprise. "What are you doing here?!"

Harry shrugged bashfully. "I help out every other weekend. What about you?"

Louis hesitated. "Oh, yeah. I've been wanting to get involved in the community a bit and figured this was the best place to start. It's my first night."

He was such a fake bitch, he honestly was. Lying out of his goddamn ass. And for some reason, he actually felt bad about lying to Harry. Harry was just so... nice. He didn't deserve to be lied to.

"Isn't it great?" Harry asked, smiling wide. "I love it here. There are some regulars that you'll get to know. It's just so fun. Great people."

"Looking forward to it," Louis replied enthusiastically.

"Well," Harry said, picking up a fresh lasagna. "I better get back out there."

He turned around and Louis caught himself watching him walk away, a slight sway to his hips, tiny bum moving back and forth.

"Get a fucking grip," He muttered to himself. He had to work with the guy, couldn't be honest with him, and Louis valued honesty first and foremost in a relationship. His mum had fallen for too many liars. Louis refused to do or be the same. So it was best he didn’t let his dick think for him.

The hours passed quickly once Louis lost himself in the work. He joked with the others in the kitchen, and shared smiles with Harry when he came back for more food. Before he knew it, the soup kitchen was closing, and he'd gone over his three hours of service. He wondered if Niall would let them roll over.

He stayed behind to help everyone clean up, had pocketed his papers after Caroline returned them, and was pulling on his jacket with Harry appeared again, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Hey," Harry said, biting his lip. "Do... do you have any plans for the rest of the night?"

Louis raised his eyebrows, wondering just what exactly it was Harry had in mind. He didn't have any plans though. It was either go see Liam at the club or go dig.

"Nah," Louis said, looking up at Harry questioningly. "I don't have any plans."

Harry shrugged, trying and failing to look nonchalant. "Wasn't thinking anything too wild, just thought I'd invite you back to mine for a cuppa or something. Pretty tame, but if you're up for it?"

God, he was just so damn _cute_. And Louis was bored.

"Sure," Louis grinned. "I'm up for it."

"I've got my car," Harry said, pulling his keys out of the pocket of his peacoat. "Did you drive here, or?"

"I walked," Louis admitted.

"No worries," Harry smiled. "I'll give you a ride.

Harry drove a sensible prius and lived in a small house red brick house with a beautiful garden and a white picket fence. Louis didn't know why he was surprised. If it weren't for the lack of ring on his finger, Louis would think Harry was married with three kids and a couple of dogs.

"Any roommates?" Louis asked as Harry unlocked his front door.

"Nope!" Harry said. "Just me." He winked. "I'm pretty shameless. Tend to walk around naked. Most of my roommates never stuck around."

And of fucking course now all Louis could think about was Harry naked. It was fine. He just hadn't been laid in far too long. That's what it was.

Harry led the way through his house to the kitchen, which was quaint with white cupboards and wood floors. There were fresh flowers sitting in a pretty vase on the kitchen table and a faint aroma of baked goods in the air. Harry’s house was cozy. Louis liked it.

"How do you take your tea?" Harry asked, putting the kettle on the stovetop.

"Strong, no sugar," Louis replied, sitting down at the table.

Harry made a face.

Louis quirked a brow and crossed his arms across his chest. "Have something to say Harold?"

"How can you take tea without sugar or milk?" Harry shook his head, shuddering dramatically.

"Because I'm not eight years old," Louis retorted, rolling his eyes.

Harry looked at him again, this time with bright eyes. "You could have so easily made a 'because I'm sweet enough' joke there."

Louis chuckled. "So overdone."

"Originality," Harry winked at him and cocked his hip. "I like it."

Flirt.

Well, that was alright. Louis liked to flirt.

He grazed his eyes up and down Harry's body. He wasn't dressed as quirky as Louis had seen him dress throughout the week, just in a t-shirt and jeans today, but that didn't stop Louis' smirk.

"I've noticed."

Harry blushed and sat at the table with Louis, placing his tea in front of him.

"So how are you liking Syco Secondary so far?" He asked, resting his elbows on the table and putting his chin in his hands. "I know the kids can be pretty rough sometimes."

Louis considered for a moment. It wasn't too bad. For the most part, he and the kids had reached an understanding: if they didn't mess with him, he didn't mess with them. He may have threatened to bring his paintball gun to school and start shooting people at one point to get his point across. But on the other hand, he knew about a fourth of the kids' names now. He was quite proud of himself for that, to be honest.

"Things are going about as smoothly as they can be," Louis told Harry. There. That wasn't even a lie. Things _were_ going smoothly. He played it cool during the day, and dug at night. He was making progress.

"You're sure they aren't giving you too much trouble?" Harry asked, seemingly genuinely concerned. "I cried nearly every day for a month when I first started. Still do cry sometimes if I'm being honest." He shrugged. "You don't have to lie to keep your job. Nobody would blame you for getting a bit stressed."

Louis looked at him. He hated to say it, but he wasn't all that surprised that the kids made Harry cry. He was so soft and just a tad too weird. He was an easy target, and kids were ruthless. Louis had been one of the worst.

Louis shrugged. "I was a rough kid when I was in school. A proper smart-ass from the wrong side of the tracks. You just have to speak their language."

Harry nodded, considering. "I guess that makes sense. Maybe you can teach me some time." He sighed and looked down at this hands. "I've always wanted to make a difference in these kids' lives, you know? Just one kid, even. But they make it so difficult."

Louis could tell Harry felt really strongly about this. He imagined most young teachers felt the same way about teaching, before the experience made them jaded. Louis hoped Harry never became jaded.

Before he could think better of it, he reached across the table and squeezed one of Harry's hands.

"You'll get there," He told him, and Harry looked up at him with wide eyes and a small smile. "Even if you just make a difference in one kid's life, you'll get there."

Harry's smile widened and he ducked his head, looking up at Louis through his eyelashes. "Thanks, Lou."

Louis' stomach did a cartwheel.

Fucking shit. He'd just gone and made this whole situation more complicated. All because of a pretty boy. At some point, his life would need to stop being so predictable.

\---

Everything went to shit two weeks later. Not that it had been going spectacularly well to begin with, but things got significantly worse. He'd seen Harry at the soup kitchen again, and again Harry invited him over for tea afterwards. They were fairly close now. Louis ate lunch with Harry and Zayn every day in the teacher's lounge and he found that he actually really liked the pair of them. And his crush on Harry continued to grow, so he'd jumped at the chance to spend time alone with him again.

He left Harry's later than expected, well after midnight. Harry offered to give him a ride back home, and Louis spent about ten minutes reassuring him that he was honestly fine getting back on his own. He'd been alone in worse parts of town later than it was. Hell, he'd slept on the streets before.

He walked home slowly, enjoying the exercise and fresh air, even if it was cold. He took the steps up to Liam's two at a time, and was humming to himself as he worked the key in the lock. When he pushed open the door, he was surprised to see Liam already home from work. He paused to see if he could still hear the music below them, and yeah, the club was still alive. So why was Liam home?

"You feeling alright, mate?" Louis asked in confusion, and Liam rushed over to him, face pale and a frightened look in his eye. Louis' stomach sunk. He didn't know what was going on, but he already knew he didn't like it.

"They know," Liam said, grabbing hold of Louis' shoulder insistently.

"What?" Louis asked, trying to keep his voice level in an effort not to rile Liam up anymore than he already was. "Who knows what?"

"Grimmy," Liam said, and Louis felt the air get knocked out of him.

"He was here," Liam continued. "With Greg. They know you're out. Came to the club looking for you, asked if I'd seen you."

Fuck.

"Fuck," Louis walked over and collapsed onto the couch. He ran a hand over his face. "What did you tell them?"

"I said I'd seen you once or twice," Liam said. Louis’ hands were shaking.  "Thought it would be suspicious if I said I didn't know anything. And I didn't want to send them off to look for you in Doncaster, so I said I was pretty sure you were staying in London, but that I didn't know where."

"Let's just hope they didn't assume you were lying," Louis shook his head to himself. "You might have sent them to Doncaster, just by telling them I'm not in Doncaster."

Liam groaned. "Fuck, I didn't even think about that! Sorry, Lou."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Louis reassured him. It wasn’t Liam’s fault. "You were caught off guard."

They say in silence for a bit while Louis tried to figure out what to do. It probably wasn't best for him to continue to stay with Liam. They'd check back here, especially since Liam said Louis had dropped in a couple of times.

"Nick actually came himself?" Louis asked after a bit, just now realizing the implications of that. Grimmy was pretty important. He typically sent other people to do his dirty work. Either Louis was in serious shit, even more serious that he realized, or Nick hadn't had his dick sucked in a while. They hooked up sometimes. Louis was an idiot. It was whatever.

"Uh... yeah," Liam bit his lip. "I haven't even gotten to the worst part."

Louis inhaled. "It gets worse?"

Liam scratched the back of his head. "Grimmy might have insinuated that he's in trouble with the higher ups for this entire scam, which is why he's looking for you himself."

Louis paused. "The higher ups... meaning?"

Liam gave Louis a sympathetic look and Louis threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Just spit it out, Li."

"Um... the higher ups meaning Cowell. Simon is looking for you."

Well, fuck.

 

*****

 

Louis left Liam's the next night. He didn't feel comfortable staying there, possibly putting his friend in danger. If Simon found out Liam had been secretly housing Louis the entire time, he'd go after him too. Not knowing where else to go, Louis headed to Harry's. Nobody would look for him on that side of town.

The only thing was... Louis didn't particularly want to explain his situation to Harry. So he did the logical thing, and decided to hide out in Harry's garage without actually telling him he was there. Foolproof. Louis was very proud of himself for this plan for about twenty minutes, and then he had to go and knock over a pair of skis that were leaning up against one of the garage walls, causing a loud crash.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. Two seconds later Harry was turning on the light to the garage, dressed in a silky floral robe and holding a baseball bat, chest heaving. That probably shouldn't have aroused Louis as much as it did.

"Wh-what?" Harry sputtered, while Louis smiled at him sheepishly.

Harry lowered the baseball bat and relaxed significantly when he saw that it was just Louis. "What are you doing here?"

"Okay, so hear me out..." Louis started, and Harry, being the gem that he was, just led Louis into his house and made him a cup of tea while he listened intently to some bullshit story Louis spun about his roommate kicking him out so his girlfriend could move in instead. It actually wasn't complete bullshit, Louis could very likely see Liam kicking him out so a girlfriend could move in, but he felt a little bit guilty for lying to Harry anyway. And Liam didn’t even have a girlfriend.

"You could have just asked," Harry said through a yawn. "To stay here, I mean. Didn't have to sneak around. I have a guest room you can stay in."

Louis decided right then and there that Harry was too nice for the world, and Louis felt like shit for taking advantage of him. He just didn't have any better options. Or like... any other options whatsoever.

"You're too nice, Harry," Louis told him.

Harry shrugged. "Be nice to nice."

He said it like it was really that simple. Maybe in his world it was.

"C'mon," He gestured for Louis to follow him.

He set Louis up in the guest room, which was decorated in muted yellows and creams and warm woods. It was very comforting, very Harry. Louis found himself wondering what Harry's bedroom looked like. For some reason, all he could picture was a canopy bed. Harry seemed the type to have a canopy bed, and Louis couldn't believe he was attracted to someone who probably had a canopy bed.

"Thanks Harry," Louis said. "Really, thank you so much."

"Hey," Harry smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"

He nodded at Louis through a yawn, and then retreated from the room, telling Louis to make himself at home and that he'd see him in the morning.

Right, Louis still had to go to work in the morning.

 

They rode to the school together the next day, Harry insisting that it made more sense for Louis to ride with him than to travel by himself. It was a strange morning. First, Louis entered the living room to find Harry doing yoga. And when he got out of the shower a little while later, Harry had made breakfast for the two of them. It was all very domestic.

"And I can't get enough students to join the drama club," Harry was saying, as he pulled into his designated teacher's parking spot. "I volunteered to run it at the beginning of the semester, and we don't have enough students to put on a play. Cordo is threatening to do away with the entire arts department all together."

He was so sad about it, again displaying the passion he had for the kids and for teaching.

"I was in drama in high school," Louis admitted, very stupidly in hindsight. "Actually played the lead in one of the plays. Danny in _Grease_." He chuckled and thought back on the memories fondly.

He glanced at Harry and immediately regretted telling him that information.

"You can help me with the theatre department!" Harry exclaimed. "It'll be so great."

"Uh...." Louis hesitated. "I don't know if that's the best-"

"Please, Lou," Harry pouted his lips. "I really need the help, and you have experience. I don't. Please."

"I'll think about it," Louis said, just to get Harry to stop biting his lip. Get a grip, Tommo.

"Awesome," Harry said, accepting that answer for now with a grateful smile.

They walked into the building and to their respective classrooms to get ready for the day. Louis was showing Planet Earth this week. He was actually quite proud of himself. Planet Earth was educational. It was basically like he was teaching. He deserved a fucking raise.

And then Harry surprised Louis in his classroom during third period. Louis was reading the paper with his feet propped up on the desk, while the movie played and the kids did their own thing.

"Hi Mr. Styles," One of the girls at the front of the class said, catching Louis' attention. He looked up and to the left to see Harry standing in the doorway.

"Everything alright?" He asked Harry, who walked over to him as quietly as possible, as if he would actually disturb the kids from watching the film they didn't care about.

"Um," Harry looked like he wanted to say something about the classroom setting, but thought better of it. Louis shrugged and went back to the paper.

"Louis," Harry whispered. "One of your students is crying."

Louis looked up, disinterested, to find which little devil was crying. She was in the middle of the room, being quite disruptive now that Louis was paying attention. Her name was Chantal and she was a right pain in Louis' ass.

"Chantal," He sighed and she looked over at him. "Cry quietly."

"Louis," Harry chastised and Louis threw him a defensive look.

"What?"

Harry shook his head incredulously and nodded his head to the door. Louis rolled his eyes and followed him out into the hall.

"Is this what you do all the time?" Harry asked, closing the door to the classroom. "Just show movies?"

Louis shrugged. "Well I'm not a real teacher, am I?"

"Now, don't say that," Harry reached over and patted Louis' shoulder. "A supply teacher is still a real teacher. And it's going to be so great having you help out with the winter play."

Wait. What. "I never-"

"It's going to be so great having you help out with the winter play," Harry repeated, voice low. "Or else I'm telling Mr. Corden all you do is watch movies and scare the kids."

Louis scoffed. "I don't scare the kids."

Harry snorted. "Teenagers talk. I listen in the halls. What was that about a paintball gun last week?"

"Well someone's gotta scare them," Louis defended himself. "Or else they won't shut the fuck up."

"There are other ways to get them to listen." Harry insisted, but Louis knew it was a weak argument. Harry had admitted to him before that he couldn't get the kids to respect him.

"Anyway," Harry continued. "I look forward to seeing you at the drama club meeting after school."

He winked and walked away, his hips swaying. Louis couldn't help but gape a bit. He was threatening him. Harry Styles was actually threatening him. Louis closed his mouth and smirked. Good for him, maybe he was made of more than Louis originally thought.

 

But then he saw the drama club. There was a grand total of seven kids in the drama club. And Harry wanted to put on Romeo and Juliet. There was absolutely no way in hell. Louis surveyed the seven students, who were all sitting in the front row of the auditorium and busted out laughing.

"You're out of your fucking mind!" Louis looked at Harry.

"Louis," Harry hissed. "Don't curse in front of the kids. God."

Louis rolled his eyes. "Oh, fuck off. It's not like they don't say it themselves. They're just words."

"That doesn't make it appropriate," Harry countered, fixing Louis with an open look. Louis looked into his eyes for a moment, his gorgeous green eyes, before sighing and apologizing.

He pulled Harry over to the side.

"Look, Haz," He said, trying out the new nickname. "You've got good intentions here, but come on. You've gotta know there's no way this is going to work with only a handful of students."

"I know," Harry said, and for some reason unbeknownst to Louis, he was smirking. "That's where you come in."

Louis fixed him with a look. "What."

Harry smirk grew. "You're going to get students to try out for the school play."

\---

"I hate you," Louis said with certainty, when he and Harry walked into Harry's house that evening. "Like, literally hate."

"You don't hate me," Harry dismissed him with his hand as he made his way to the kitchen. "I'm too cute for people to hate."

Louis nodded. Truer words had never been spoken, in his opinion. But he still hated him.

"Aw," Harry said, nearly squealed, a grin playing across his face. "You think I'm cute."

"I think you're well fit," Louis admitted with a shrug. Hell, he didn't have anything to lose. They'd been flirting shamelessly with each other lately anyway. "Doesn't mean I like you right now. Blackmailing me into joining the fucking drama club. And you want me to do the same for the students! I'm shocked Harold, honestly. What would your mother say?"

"My mother wants me to keep my job," Harry said as he started pulling pots and pans out of cupboards and food out of the fridge. "The theatre department is my responsibility. It's success reflects on me. I don't want to lose my job. I love that job, even if it does stress me the hell out sometimes."

Louis stayed silent and watched him for a moment. Watched the way Harry's smile turned down when he talked about losing his job, and how he hunched in on himself. It wasn't fair that someone as good as Harry was having such a shit time doing what he loved. Louis wanted to soothe him, work at the strain in those shoulders and maybe run his hands down Harry's strong back. He just didn't know where the line was. Friends comforted each other, and he thought of himself and Harry as friends. But he also knew that there was danger of the two of them falling headfirst into something more. That was the line Louis wasn't sure about, and the way he wanted to comfort Harry crossed over that hazy line.

"What are you making?" Louis asked in an attempt to get his mind elsewhere, pushing up to sit on one of the counter tops. "And is there enough for me?"

"Was thinking stir-fry," Harry said, examining a green bell pepper. "And don't be silly. Of course there's enough for you, if that sounds alright?"

"Sounds great," Louis said. As if he had any room to dictate what Harry should cook for him when he was already letting him stay in his house.

They chatted about other nonsense while Harry cooked dinner, and then they ate. They talked about work, which normally Louis would find boring, but he could honestly listen to Harry talk about work all day. He was just so passionate about it, wanted to inspire the students to reach their full potential, took his job so incredibly seriously. Louis had always bought into the joke that those who can't do teach, but he was starting to view the entire thing differently. Without teachers like Harry, nobody would end up doing things with their life to begin with.

"You're a great teacher, you know," Louis told him as they finished up the dishes.

Harry shook his head and looked down as his hands. "'M not,"

"Hey," Louis furrowed his eyebrows and nudged Harry to look at him again. "Yeah, you are. Don't put yourself down like that."

"I'm not, though," Harry argued with him. "I'm not a good teacher. The kids don't respect me. Most of them are failing, because I can't do my job right. Half of the students probably don't even know my name, just the girls who've got crushes on me. I'm not the cool teacher, like Zayn, or scary like you. I'm just the weird one who wears too much floral and makes them memorize dates they don't care about."

He turned the water off and dried his hands, tossing the rag down onto the counter forcefully before retreating to the back of the house.

Louis blinked. Surely Harry realized he was more than all that. Surely.

"Oh, fuck it," Louis murmured and followed Harry back through the house to his bedroom. He was going soft.

He got distracted when he first walked into Harry's room, because there was not a canopy bed. Louis felt betrayed. However, the comforter was shiny and gold, and there was a leopard print arm chair sitting in the corner, so Louis figured beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Harry," Louis sat down on the edge of the bed, watching with mild interested when Harry stepped into his walk in closet and started undressing.

Okay, maybe Louis’ interest shouldn't have been described as mild.

"You should really give yourself some more credit," He continued, eyeing Harry’s body appreciatively. His back was strong and smooth, his ass small, but perky. "What was it you said to me that first night I came over? That you just needed to make a difference in one person's life?"

Harry shrugged and threw his dirty clothes into his hamper, walking back out wearing nothing but a pair of black briefs.

"I'm sure you've made a difference in one of your students' lives Harry," Louis said gently. "You're so charismatic and passionate. There's no way you haven't made an impression on someone. Hell, you've made an impression on me."

Harry looked up then. "Yeah?"

Louis nodded. "Yeah. I know I'm not one of the kids, but in a way I kind of am your student, you know? You make me want to care a bit more, do better. You're basically teaching me how to be a better teacher, even if it does mean threatening people. Still can't believe you, by the way."

It was half bullshit, but at least he got Harry to smile. He chuckled and joined Louis on the edge of the bed.

"We'll get the theatre department up and running, okay?" Louis said, leaning over to rub his back.

"You're really great, Lou," Harry said, ducking in head. "Thanks."

“It’s not a problem, Haz,” Louis gave his shoulder a squeeze before pulling away. “You’re doing so much for me. I should be the one thanking you.”

"I'm happy to help," Harry said with a smile, then he looked up and met Louis' eyes. "So... you think I'm well fit, eh?"

Louis rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you didn't already know."

Harry chuckled. "Alright, I won’t."

Louis nudged Harry's shoulder playfully. "What, you aren't gonna return the compliment?"

"I'll do you one better," Harry said, and then he leaned over and locked their lips together.

Louis swallowed his slight surprise and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Harry's soft, plush lips moving against his. Harry's kisses were gentle, much like the rest of him, and Louis wondered what it would take to make Harry lose that soft, tender control. He wanted to spend hours finding out.

He nipped at Harry's bottom lip, ran the tip of his tongue along the seam, and then Harry opened up for him. Louis deepened the kiss, moving up and swinging one of his legs over Harry's lap so that he was straddling his thighs. Harry sighed into his mouth and ran his hands up Louis' back before linking his wrists around Louis' neck.

The snogged lazily for a long time and Louis enjoyed the gentle intimacy of it all. He hadn't kissed anyone like this since he was a teenager, without kissing quickly transitioning to something more. He rocked his hips down and Harry's breath stuttered. Wanting to coax more breathy gasps and moans out of Harry, Louis rocked his hips down again, and again. It felt so good. And Louis could have justified the heat in his cheeks and the way his heart was thumping in his chest on the fact that he hadn't been laid in a while, but he knew he was feeling so overwhelmed because this was Harry, who was honest and kind, and made Louis want to be too.

"You feel so good," Louis murmured against Harry's lips.

"Hmm," Harry dragged his lips from Louis' chin to his ear. "So do you. Wanna feel all of you."

Louis pulled back and looked into Harry's eyes. "Yeah?"

Harry bit his lip and nodded, smiling shyly. Louis returned his smile and moved off of Harry's lap to kneel on the floor between his legs. He was dying to get his mouth on him, but he felt like teasing a bit first. He sucked a mark into Harry's inner thigh and pressed kisses to his hips, dragging his fingers up Harry's legs. He was so soft and smooth.

When Louis traced the waistband of Harry's briefs and looked up at him in question, Harry nodded eagerly. Louis pulled his underwear off, eyeing the way Harry's dick sprang free with satisfaction. He was so hard, so big. Louis wanted Harry inside of him, like, yesterday.

"You're so hot," He murmured, mostly to himself.

Harry hummed. " _You're_ so hot," He ran his fingers through Louis' fringe. "Stop teasing me."

Louis grinned before taking Harry into his mouth, just the tip, sucking softly.

"Oh, fuck," Harry moaned. Louis brought his hands up, one to stroke Harry at the base, while the other played with his balls. Louis continued like that, enjoying Harry's moans.

"Feels so good," Harry whispered, his hand fisted in Louis' hair. Louis looked up at him from underneath his lashes and took Harry all the way down until he could feel him at the back of his throat.

"Shit," Harry groaned, collapsing back against the bed. "Oh, my God..."

There was the response Louis had been hoping for. He hummed around Harry and sucked, while Harry let out a stream of "Oh fuck, Louis please, don't stop, oh, my God, I'm gonna come."

And then he came with a shout and a full body shudder. Louis swallowed down what he could, and then suckled on Harry's sensitive cock until he pleaded for him to stop. He rested his head on Harry's thigh for a moment, before climbing back up onto the bed and looming over Harry.

"Give me like two minutes," Harry said. "And then I'll do you."

"Think if I give you enough time, you could like... _do me_ , do me?" Louis asked, leaning down to capture Harry's lips in a brief kiss.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, if you want."

Louis nodded. "I want."

He stood up to slip out of his clothes, and then climbed back into bed naked, stroking  himself while he waited for Harry. He didn’t have to wait long before Harry was knocking Louis’ hand out of the way and hovering over him.

“You’ve got quite a few tattoos,” He told Louis, as if he didn’t already know.

“So do you,” Louis replied, running his fingers over the laurels tattooed on Harry’s hips.

Harry stood up, and Louis was about to protest, before he realized Harry was moving to his dresser to retrieve lube and a condom. Louis shivered with anticipation.  He was so hard already, he wasn’t even sure if he could hold off until Harry was in him, but he’d try his best.

Harry joined him back on the bed and spread Louis’ legs apart, settling down so his face was level with Louis’ ass. He sucked a bruise into one of the cheeks as he slicked up his fingers, and then he pressed in. Louis grunted at the intrusion, assuring Harry that he was fine when he asked.

“Just been a while,” He admitted. “You’re good, you’re good.”

Harry made quick work of prepping him, coaxing little whimpers and sighs out of Louis. He had talented fingers, and found Louis’ prostate in no time, forcing a loud moan out of him.

“I’m ready, I’m ready,” He gasped when Harry was three fingers deep and pressing incessantly against his prostate. “God, just fuck me.”

“Needy,” Harry commented with a giggle, but he pulled his fingers out slowly and rolled the condom on, slicking himself up before grabbing Louis underneath his knees and pressing in.

“You good?” He asked through a groan once he bottomed out.

At a loss for words, Louis nodded and reached up to run his hands down Harry’s chest, which was glistening with sweat. He was so hot, with his hair falling into his face and his broad chest heaving.

“Shit, you feel amazing,” Harry breathed, pulling out and then thrusting back in experimentally. He built up a steady rhythm and Louis just laid there and took it,

“I’m not gonna last long,” Louis admitted when he finally got his act together and started to roll his hips in time with Harry’s thrusts.

Harry changed his angle and Louis cursed. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t lasting long.

“Don’t have to,” Harry told him, his thrusts quickening. “Come for me, babe. I’m close too.” He reached a hand in between them and stroked Louis as his movements just got faster.

“C’mon, Lou,” He whispered, ducking down to kiss him. It was sloppy, mostly teeth and tongue, but it pushed Louis over the edge, and he came between them with a whimper, painting Harry’s stomach. He lay there, panting, as Harry thrusted a handful of times, and then joined him, collapsing onto Louis.

They came down together, breathing heavily, hearts pounding. Harry pulled out of Louis slowly, tied off the condom and threw it in the waste bin next to his bed, then laid back down across Louis’ chest. Louis reached up and ran a finger through Harry’s sweat-damp curls, pushing them off of his forehead.

Harry lifted his head and smiled at him.

“That was nice,”

Louis wholeheartedly agreed, “It was.”

Harry yawned and threw an arm around Louis’ waist. “You should stay in here tonight.”

Louis placed a kiss to Harry’s cheek.

“Okay.”

 

*****

 

The weeks following were some of the best of Louis' life, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it. Louis got some of the students to join the drama club, mostly the ones who were on thin ice with the office and were easily threatened. They made for an interesting cast, but at least there were enough students to put on the play. Harry had also recruited Zayn to help, whose extensive knowledge of Shakespeare helped out a lot, considering Louis only knew the Leonardo DiCaprio version, and Harry was too interested in the costumes to spent all of his time directing.

Louis found that he actually enjoyed working with the kids. He remembered how much fun he'd had on stage when he was their age, how much of an impact the drama club had on him when he was questioning everything about himself.

He was also having fun teaching the kids in class. Mrs. Jones' lesson plans were actually pretty easy to follow, and now that half of the kids liked him because they spent time with him for the play, they respected him in the classroom setting as well.  

He was still staying at Harry's, although he spent more of his nights in Harry's bed than his own. They'd become quite domestic already, and Louis was surprised to find that he didn't really mind.  The only downside was that he wasn't able to sneak into the school in the middle of the night anymore to dig, since Harry would ask where he was going and if he needed a ride. Louis knew it was only a matter of time until Simon or Grimmy caught up with him, and he had no idea what he was going to do when they did. He couldn't find the money, didn't have _time_ to find the money. Yeah, he'd earned a lot working at the school, but it was barely half of what he owed.

So he basically spent his time ignoring the ever-present nagging in the back of his mind that this would all catch up with him eventually. In the mean time, he threw himself into the play, and the kids, and Harry.

The thing was, his past caught up to him at the most inconvenient time. It was almost a month after he'd fled Liam's, the threat of Simon on his back, and Harry and Louis were leaving the school late on a Thursday night, after play practice. They were a few yards from the car and Harry was talking about ordering some food in, since it was late and he didn't feel like cooking, while Louis thought back on what scenes they needed to work on, when a familiar voice called his name and sent a chill down Louis' spine.

"Hey, Tommo!"

Louis stopped in his tracks and turned to his right.

"Fuck," He muttered, when he saw Grimmy's long, lean form. He was leaning up against a sleek black car. Louis could see Greg sitting inside, behind the steering wheel.

Nick gave Louis a once over. "What, you can't say you're _surprised_ to see me, can you?"

Louis sighed. "Guess not."

"Lou," Harry said his name quietly. "Do you know this man? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I know him," Louis told Harry before turning back to Grimmy.

"I'm Nick," Grimmy said, lifting a hand in greeting.

"Harry," Harry replied, and Louis wished he would stop talking.

Nick turned his attention back to Louis.

"Look Tommo," He said in a low voice, inching closer. "You've caused us enough trouble. And you're good people. I like you, so I've convinced Simon to go easy on you. All he wants is his money. We don't really want things to get ugly."

"Lou," Harry said, a nervous edge to his voice. "What's he talking about?"

"I'll tell you in a second," Louis said, then moved closer to Nick, in hopes that he could talk to him without Harry overhearing too much.

"I don't have it," He admitted to Nick in a whisper.

Nick groaned. "Fuck's sake, no wonder you went off the grid. Not like you. But what do you _mean_ you don't have it? What happened to it?"

Louis ran a hand over his face and then pointed behind him. "It's under the fucking school."

Nick glanced overtop Louis' head at the school. "What."

"Payno," Louis explained. "I asked him to hide the dough when I got taken in, and he buried it. And then the school was built on top of it."

"He buried it at a construction site," Nick clarified, voice full of disbelief.

Louis rolled his eyes and nodded, throwing his hands up in the air in mutual exasperation.

"What kind of idiot buries money at a construction site?" Nick asked, looking genuinely curious.

"That's what I said!" Louis exclaimed.

Nick frowned in sympathy. "You've made a right mess of things, haven't you?'

Yeah. He really had. For some reason, the thing that worried him most and made him feel the most guilty, was the confused Harry standing behind him. Louis knew that was going to be a mess to clean up.

“Well fuck, Louis,” Nick exclaimed, rubbing his temples. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. It’s my ass on the line too, you know.”

Louis shrugged. “I mean, I can give you what I have? Or else I guess you’ll just have to kill me or whatever it is you were ordered to do.” He knew Nick wouldn’t become violent with him, so it was an empty threat, but he also knew there was no way Simon would be happy with Nick returning with only half the money and no Louis. He wasn’t sure where this was leading.

“Louis,” Harry said sternly, in the voice he used when he was talking to a rowdy student. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Louis looked at Nick questioningly and Nick nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

He retreated back to lean against his car. Louis watched for a brief moment, as Nick took a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket and lit one, leaning into the driver’s window to relay what was going on to Greg.

“Louis,” Harry pleaded, and Louis turned to him with a sigh.

“It’s a really long story,” Louis said, just getting right to the point. “But basically I owe those guys a lot of money, and I don’t have it, so they’re probably talking about what they’re gonna do with me right now. They’re good people, but they work for dangerous people, who aren’t going to be happy about this.”

Harry nodded, like he’d figured that much out for himself. “How much do you owe them?”

Louis hesitated, and Harry raised his eyebrows expectantly and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Fifty grand,” Louis said with a wince. “I’ve barely got twenty.”

It seemed kind of pathetic, now that he said it out loud. The fact that he barely had twenty thousand dollars to his name, and it wasn’t even technically his.

Harry looked at him, then to Nick and Greg, who were looking back over at them as they talked amongst themselves. Harry edged closed to Louis and lowered his voice.

“I have thirty grand.”

It took Louis a moment to catch on to what Harry was saying.

“No,” He said firmly, shaking his head. “No way. I’m not taking your money. You can’t do that.”

“Well, you’ll pay me back, right?” Harry said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “For some, clearly stupid reason, I trust you. Maybe because it seems like these guys do to. You just got put in a bind. I mean, you’re in no way off the hook here. I’m pretty fucking pissed, because you’ve obviously been lying to me. You’ve got a big story to tell me, but if it will keep you out of danger, keep you safe, I can lend you the money.”

Louis hesitated. Harry was right, Louis would pay him back. And it would be a relief to have the stress off of his back for a short while, but Louis really hated the idea of bringing Harry into this. He wanted to protect him, keep him as far away from this side of Louis’ life as possible.

“I can’t do that to you, Haz,” Louis said. “I don’t want you to get involved in this.” He gestured to Nick and Greg.

“I’m already involved,” Harry argued, and yeah he had a point there. “Just let me fucking help you, yeah?”

Louis looked at him, then back at Nick, weighing his options. Nick raised his eyebrows in question, and Louis turned back to Harry.

“Yeah, alright.” Louis agreed. “Let me go tell them.”

Harry nodded, and Louis made his way over to Nick and Greg.

“Harry’s gonna help me out,” Louis told them. “We can meet you back here with the money in an hour.”

Nick snorted. “Yeah, nice try. I’ll go with Harry and you can wait here with Greg.”

It was Louis’ turn to snort. “I’m not letting you go with Harry. Your loud mouth will dig me into a deeper hole.”

Nick rolled his eyes, but didn’t deny it. “Fine then, Greg can go with Harry.”

Louis shrugged and nodded, figuring that was the best he was going to get. They told Harry the plan, and he and Greg took off to wherever it was Harry was getting this money from. Louis doubted they’d be getting that much from an ATM, but Harry seemed confident.

Louis leaned up against the car with Nick, accepting a cigarette when Nick offered. He thought about what he was going to tell Harry as he sucked gratefully on the cigarette. He doubted Harry would let him off with anything other than the truth, which sucked, because Louis was pretty sure the truth would ruin everything.

“You’ve got yourself a sweet one,” Nick observed.

“Don’t know how long I’ll have him for anymore,” Louis said sadly. “But yes.”

“You two exclusive?” Nick asked nonchalantly, tilting his head in curiosity.

Louis shook his head in amusement. “We haven’t talked about it. But I’m done hooking up with you anyway.”  

Nick gasped and put a hand to his heart. “Wound me.”

“I’m serious, Grimmy,” Louis said. “I’m done.”

“Hey, that’s fine,” Nick held his hands up in mock surrender. “It’ll be hard, but I think I can live without your pretty face and prettier ass.”

“Not what I meant,” Louis rolled his eyes, blushing despite himself. “I’m done with all of it. I don’t want to be involved anymore. After you get your money, you leave me alone. I want no part in this. I’m off the hook. Done.”

Nick considered him for a moment before nodding. “Good for you, Louis.”

Louis blinked. He didn’t think it would be that easy.

“Wait, really?”

“Sure,” Nick replied with a shrug. “Plus, Simon might have told me to tell you that he’s done with your ass anyway, said you’ve caused him more trouble than you’re worth.”

Louis laughed, relief washing over him. This entire situation had been an ever present threat in the back of his mind for so long, it felt so nice to know he would be finished with all of it soon. Even knowing that he’d probably ruined everything with Harry couldn’t completely dampen his mood. Yeah, he was sad, but things with Harry were never going to last anyway. Deep down, Louis knew that.

He and Nick smoked a few more cigarettes in silence while they waited for Harry and Greg to get back. Louis was just starting to get anxious when Harry’s car turned back into the car park about half an hour later.

“My share is at Liam’s,” Louis told Nick as Harry and Greg approached.

“He gave us the fifty,” Greg said, nodding at Harry. “You’re good.”

Louis sputtered. He’d told Harry he had twenty. They’d agreed on thirty.

“We’re good?” Nick asked. Greg nodded. They said their goodbyes, then hopped into their car and drove off.

“I told you I had twenty,” Louis said to Harry, voice full of accusation.

“I know,” Harry said, walking towards his car. Louis joined him. “So you’ll have no trouble paying that much back.”

They got into the car and Harry turned the key in the ignition. “But first, you can tell me just exactly what the fuck that was.”

He started to drive, heading to his house. Louis paused, decided it was best to just go with the truth, and began, starting at the beginning. He told Harry all about how he started drug trafficking in Doncaster first, after his step-dad ditched his family and they were hurting for money. He told him how that led to dealing for Simon and his gang when he moved to London to get the drama away from his family. He told him how he got mugged on his way to meet Simon one night, and then how he robbed the bank and ended up in jail.

“I’m not a real teacher,” He admitted, just as Harry pulled up in front of his house. “I’m not even a substitute. I was applying for a janitorial position and Lou misunderstood. Cordo was so desperate that he hired me without a proper interview, and I think he forgot to ever ask for my license and paperwork.”

Harry forced out a laugh and rubbed at his temples. “You’ve been lying to me this entire time.”

“Not lying,” Louis was quick to defend himself. “Just… not telling you the truth.”

Harry just looked at him.

“It’s not the same thing,” Louis insisted. “I never explicitly lied to you.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to excuse me for not letting you off the hook so easily,” Harry spat. “Because that kinds of feels like the same thing to me. You’re not the person I thought you were at all.”

Louis knew that was coming, but it still made him feel like shit.

“I’m still Louis, though,” He said weakly. “You just know a little bit more about me now.”

Harry ignored that.

“You have to tell Principal Corden, you know,” He told him.

“That’s fine,” Louis said with a wave of his hand. “I’m more worried about what this means for us than about my job to be honest.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the steering wheel. Louis held his breath while he waited for him to answer.

“I thought about this on the ride back to the school with that guy. I’m really pissed off, Louis,” Harry said, his voice breaking on Louis’ name. “Like, really fucking angry with you... but unfortunately, I also think I’ve fallen halfway in love with you.”

Louis swallowed. Love. That was a word he hadn’t heard anyone but his mother ever say to him. He’d been thinking it about Harry, but he never would have said it first. Boys didn’t tell other boys that they loved them where he came from.

“Hell, probably more than halfway,” Harry continued, letting out a desperate sounding laugh. “So I don’t know what to do. I just know you can’t ever lie to me again.”

Louis nodded jerkily. “I promise.”

“You get a trial run.” Harry looked up into Louis’ eyes. “Don’t fuck it up.”

The breath that Louis was holding rushed out as he launched himself over the console and kissed Harry. He was too fucking good for him, but damnit, Louis needed him. He needed Harry’s kindness and faith in him more than he’d ever needed anything else in his life.

“I won’t.” He promised against Harry’s lips. “I won’t fuck it up, I swear.”

“Please don’t,” Harry whispered. “I… I really do think I love you.”

Louis pulled back and smiled. “I think I love you too.”

 

 

*****

 

Louis ended up waiting until after the winter play (which was an amazing success) to tell Principal Corden the truth. Cordo was surprisingly calm about the entire thing, considering Louis could have cost him his job. He simply thanked Louis for helping him when he was in a bind, and told him there was a spot open for him at Syco Secondary if he ever got his substitute teaching license.

So Louis did one better and went to school to become a certified teacher. He helped out at the school as a volunteer while he got his degree, and four years later he had a job as the Theatre and Arts teacher, since the department had grown significantly with his involvement over the past few years.

“I’m thinking about finally doing _Grease_ ,” Louis said to Harry as they got ready for bed one night. He’d never moved back out of Harry’s house, and it quickly became their house.

“The choir’s big enough now,” He continued, watching Harry brush his teeth in the mirror as he tossed his clothes into the hamper. “And I think the kids would enjoy it. You know I’ve wanted to do _Grease_ forever.”

“I think that’ll be great, Lou,” Harry said after he rinsed the toothpaste out of his mouth. “The kids will love it, I’m sure.”

He turned around and Louis moved into his space, running his hands up and down Harry’s toned arms. “Not as much as I love you, I bet.”

Harry giggled. “And what about how much I love you?”

Louis leaned in and kissed him before they could get into an argument about who loved who more. He figured they both loved each other more than enough.

 

 

 


End file.
